Delay in Multilateral Bargaining under Complete Information

Abstract

This paper analyzes a complete-information, infinite-horizon, multilateral bargaining model in which one player bargains with each of the other players one at a time and binding cash-offer contracts are used to govern transactions. Under a weak stationarity condition on equilibrium strategies, we characterize the set of equilibria for the game. We show that when players are sufficiently patient, significant delay in reaching agreements may emerge and this delay can become longer quickly as the number of involved parties rises. Indeed, when the number of bargainers is large, perpetual disagreement can occur in equilibrium. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C78, D23, D62. © 2000 Academic Press.